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Hamish and Fin Moore |
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National Museum of Scotland Craft Exhibition essay A description of the pipes made Materials and Methods Through this essay I hope to give some insight into a few of the more interesting aspects of bagpipe making in Scotland, the related social context both past and present, and some of the rich and diverse cultural heritage associated with this instrument. Bagpipe making is both an exacting engineering science and a creative art form requiring a wide range of skills, including a highly developed musical ear. It can be frustrating, but for the main part provides a high degree of satisfaction, a meagre income and a wonderful way of travelling from day to day. I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute and give thanks to all my family and friends who have been involved in the business either directly or indirectly over the years - your dedicated work and help has been invaluable. A brief introduction to the origins and development of our Bagppipe manufacture With the help of my father, David Moore, I started making Scottish Small Pipes in 1985. Our first sets were sold in 1986 and the business has grown slowly and organically since. To date, we have produced 560 sets of pipes and there are currently 7 people involved in the production. My son, Fin, joined the firm in June, 1997 to serve an apprenticeship. The business was originally established with the express purpose of manufacturing bellows blown Scottish Small Pipes, a culturally important Scottish instrument. Expansion has closely followed and greatly contributed to the ever growing renaissance of this instrument. During the last 5 years we have added Highland pipes in the key of A, standard Highland pipes, Border pipes and Reel pipes to the varieties made, and in each case we used historically important sets of pipes as models for reconstruction. A description of the pipes made Scottish Small Pipes have led the present revival of bellows blown pipes nationally and internationally. In its modern form it is a bellows blown bagpipe with three drones set in a common stock and with a cylindrically bored open ended chanter. The drones are tuned to the tonic, one an octave below the tonic and one in between, on the fifth. It is currently being made in four keys, namely A, Bflat, C and D. The key of A is by far the most popular and can now be regarded as the standard for this instrument. The scale of the chanter is myxolydian having a sharpened third and sixth and natural seventh. The pipes are harmonically rich, easy to maintain and due to a lack of moisture in the system the reeds are very stable and have a life of many years. In the keys of A and Bflat, the finger spacing and pitch are both similar to the practice chanter but with a vastly improved tone. It is little wonder that these pipes have reached their present level of popularity. Once the bellows technique has been mastered, the player has an instrument which is quiet enough to be played indoors with little physical effort and is acoustically and musically compatible with most other instruments. There is no doubt that small pipes existed in Scotland in various forms (both mouth and bellows blown) but these have all suffered a demise into near or complete extinction. The present revival started in 1983 when the celebrated Northumbrian pipe-maker, Colin Ross designed a Scottish open ended cylindrically bored chanter to fit the highly developed and sophisticated Northumbrian chanter reed but which played with the Highland bagpipe fingering system. The first chanters were made in the key of D for myself and the well-known singer, Artie Tresize, who used the pipes to great effect with his singing partner, Cilla Fisher, in their children’s show, The Singing Kettle. Chanters in the other keys of C, A and Bflat followed fairly soon and the revival was underway. These developments, given the number of Highland pipers in the world, created a commercially viable situation for the many fledgling pipe-makers, who were to start making these pipes professionally. Colin had developed an hybrid instrument, which was to form the basis of a renaissance in the Highland piping world as significant as any single event since the inception of the first piping competition in 1781. When we came to start making Scottish Small Pipes in 1985, we used a set of Highland small pipes as our model for the drones, bellows and bag rather than the Northumbrian pipes on which Colin had based his instrument. The chanter/ reed combination however was based on Colin’s revolutionary work, although during the intervening years, modifications have been made to the chanter design and the reed has evolved to be quite distinctive from the original. These pipes are copied from Cox’s Plans, circa 1740 – 1760. They are bellows blown, have three drones issuing from a common stock and have a conical bored chanter in contrast to the parallel bore of the small pipes, thus allowing the pipes to play an octave higher than the quieter and more mellow small pipes. The drone arrangement is A bass, A tenor and high E alto. The key of the chanter is A, and as well as the normal mixolydian scale, there are four semitones available, namely Bflat, C natural, E flat and F natural. These are achieved only in conical chanters and by the use of a system of cross-fingering. The wood of choice for these pipes is either Boxwood, which is grown high in the Pyrenees Mountains or local Yew. The pipes were traditionally popular on both sides of the border, this being reflected in what was often a common repertoire between the Scottish Borders and Northumberland. In Scotland many of the border towns employed a border piper who’s duty it was to play through the streets in the early morning and to sound the curfew at night. The pipes declined in popularity towards the end of the 19th century and had virtually died out of use by the beginning of the 20th century. An interesting phenomenon which survived however until the 1930’s or 40’s was the Boy Scout Pipe Bands in Northumberland playing and marching with Border bagpipes. These pipes were traditionally supplied by Robertson’s, a well-known firm of bagpipe makers from Edinburgh. During the course of the present revival however, it has only been in the last five or six years that these pipes have gained much popularity. The reasons for this are many, not least of which is the recent improvement in the standard of the pipes and in particular the chanter reed which has resulted in an improvement in the sound of the pipes. The majority of people purchasing bellows blown pipes are Highland pipers and a large part of the attraction for them is to have an instrument which is quiet enough to be played indoors, is in tune, is low maintenance and is a contrast to their Highland pipes. The small pipes, with their quiet volume and rich tone, provide an ideal alternative. For the first ten years of manufacture, I estimate that 99% of pipes made by us were small pipes. Today, the proportion of small pipes to border pipes is approximately two to one. This is an interesting development and it is worth noting that the increase in orders for Border pipes is largely the result of people ordering who already have small pipes and who are looking for a more challenging and expressive instrument. The pipes are principally being used in multi-instrumental folk bands where they will cut through and blend particularly well with other instruments. In informal traditional music sessions, the pipes are also beginning to find a very strong place and there is a potential for their use with classical musicians in an orchestral setting. These uses are far removed from their original function and it is also interesting to note that, as yet, very few people are playing Border music on these pipes. The Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society, since their inception, have done an invaluable job in promoting Scottish Small pipes and Border pipes. Reconstruction of 18th century Highland Pipes We have copied a particularly beautiful set of bagpipes, which was made at the end of the 18th century from ebony and mounted in solid silver, and which is now displayed in The Inverness Museum. From the 14th century until the late 17th century, pipes were made from indigenous timbers such as boxwood, yew, laburnum and various fruitwoods. From the end of the 17th century until the early years of this century as a result of the colonisation of parts of the West Indies, some very fine timbers became available for pipe making - cocus wood from Jamaica, lignum vitae from various places in the West Indies, and later, rosewood from Belize, followed by partridge wood from Venezuela. Parallel to but later than the developments in The West Indies, gradually increasing shipments of ebony and rosewood became available from India and these exotic species progressively displaced the indigenous timbers. The availability of these woods closely followed the expansion of the British Empire, which in turn put greater demands on the newly founded and ever-increasing Highland Regiments with their accelerating demand for more and more bagpipes. Pipe-makers of the day were extremely busy – business flourished! There is however an interesting anecdote from this period concerning The MacDougals of Aberfeldy. They were approached by the newly raised regiment of The Black Watch, who ordered twelve sets of pipes for their pipe band. MacDougal refused to join this new commercial bandwagon and insisted that all the pipers visit their premises individually to place personal orders for their pipes! It was in the last two decades of the 18th century that a major change in design came about. The simple but elegant tulip-shaped bells of the drones became square and angular, the plain turned surfaces were highly decorated with an intricate system of combing, and external diameters of the drones and stocks became significantly larger. The late 18th century set in The Inverness Museum made of the exotic hardwood, ebony, must have been one of the last to be made in the old style. When these pipes were copied and reeded, they were found to play naturally in the key of A. This has been most useful for people playing with orchestras and has also been put to good use in folk bands. The full potential of these pipes however will only be realised when they are used for solo pibroch playing. In the reconstruction of these pipes, we have used the original materials, namely ebony with solid silver ferrules. Standard Highland Pipes in the key of Bflat The end of the 19th and the first third of the 20th century is generally considered to be the period when the best Highland pipes were made. The standard of the wood was superb, and engineering and technical skills and modus operandi were at a level of accuracy that allowed the finest quality of instruments to be made. Therefore, it was an early 20th century set of Peter Henderson drones on which we modelled our standard Highland pipes. This set plays in concert Bflat. The original set was made of African blackwood, which became available at the beginning of this century and particularly after World War 1 when the United Kingdom took over German East Africa (Tanzania) and the region was opened up to increased commerce. Blackwood came on to the market in increasing quantities and because of its superior characteristics, has in time displaced ebony. Our reconstructed sets are made from African blackwood, with boxwood providing a beautiful, practical and readily available alternative to ivory for the mounts and ferrules. The celebrated piper, Callum MacPherson (1834-1898) from Laggan, played Reel pipes and was quoted as expressing his pleasure at being able to play for a dance effortlessly for hours while still being able to smoke his pipe! It appears that these pipes were popular in Scotland in the 19th and 18th centuries. Both Glens of Edinburgh and MacDougals of Aberfeldy advertised them in their catalogues as being either bellows or mouth blown. A set of what are most likely MacDougals at present housed in the Piping Centre Museum in Glasgow gave us the extremely fine example on which to base our sets. Due to the great advantages of bellows blown pipes over mouth blown, we have decided to restrict our manufacture to bellows blown only. The museum pipes have two tenor drones and one bass drone issuing from a common stock; with a conical bore chanter and they are made from what appears to be a fruitwood with horn mounts and ferrules. Our contemporary copies are made from yew with boxwood mounts. Reel pipes were made as a Highland instrument for Highland pipers, who would have been playing a Highland repertoire. Materials and Methods - some brief musings The wood used in the manufacture of bagpipes is of vital importance to the quality of the instrument. A rigorous selection process followed by an appropriate period of seasoning are both essential prior to manufacture of the pipes. Only the finest quality wood should be used: the instrument will last forever and the cost of the wood is only a small percentage of the total cost. The stability of the instrument is dependant largely on two factors, the moisture content of the wood and the inherent forces present in the wood as a result of stresses present in the tree when it was alive. The changes, which happen to the wood as it seasons, must be allowed to take place prior to the final manufacturing process. If the wood is incorrectly or insufficiently seasoned, the consequences will be profound with the possibility of cracks developing, vital internal dimensions changing (most especially in the chanter where even quite small changes can have a large effect), ferrules coming loose under shrinking supporting surfaces, round bores becoming oval in shape and causing mechanical problems, as in the tuning slides of the drones. Seasoning should take place ideally in a temperature and humidity controlled environment over a period of years. The wood should be rough turned and stored in such a manner that a maximum amount of air circulates around the wood. Where appropriate a pilot hole should be bored in the wood to allow maximum evaporation of moisture from the wood. Boxwood presents its own special difficulties and is extremely prone to bending. It is however a valuable resource with a beautiful appearance and acoustic properties which are second to none. A system of microwaving the wood has been devised to minimise the bending. The wood is brought to boiling-point as quickly as possibly and kept as close to 100 degrees centigrade for a further 45 minutes. Wood that is destined to be made into a mouth blown instrument is then submerged in a bath of water for one hour before being left to dry for a further month. Wood which will be made into dry blown pipes is at this stage submerged in linseed oil. The theory behind microwaving is quite simply that the sap is boiled off, thus rupturing the cellular structure of the wood and relieving the stress which is present within the wood, and therefore allowing it to bend. The water or oil is then absorbed and occupies the inter-cellular spaces. The oil helps to add stability to the wood and in the case of water it then evaporates to an equalised level with the environmental humidity. After bending has taken place, the wood is trued up by re-turning between centres. In the majority of cases, the wood is stable at this point and no further bending takes place. Although meticulous care is taken in seasoning wood, dimensional changes will take place under extremes of temperature and humidity. The moisture content of the wood will only ever be proportional to the relative humidity of the environment. So, for example, if pipes were seasoned and made in Scotland and then sent to the Eastern seaboard of the United States in the winter where the relative humidity is extremely low, problems will be encountered unless precautionary humidifying measures are implemented. The quality of sound of any reeded woodwind instrument, given the fact that the internal dimensions are accurate and the wood is of a certain quality, is largely dependent on the reeds. Cane [sp.Arondo Donax] is the material of choice and although this species is common throughout Europe, there are specific areas where the quality is superior. The best cane for the purposes of my reed manufacture comes from the south of France. There are many factors involved in the cane quality namely, the mineral content of the soil, the weather conditions during any particular growing season [the cane requires a certain period of sustained minimum temperature as well as an exposure to frost], the method of storing and seasoning the cane and the time of harvesting. This last factor is an interesting one. In Sardinia where cane is used in the making of the Launedas [an ancient triple pipe with two chanters and one drone], the wild cane fields are jealously guarded by the makers and the cane will only be harvested in the months of January or February and only at a full moon! This of course isn’t as strange as it may seem at first, the lunar cycle having an effect on all water, it must of course have an effect on the sap in the cane. There are great demands for good quality cane not only from reed makers for the oboe, bassoon, saxophone and clarinet, but from manufacturers of cane furniture and cane fishing rods. Obtaining good cane is exceedingly difficult, being able to recognise good cane in its raw state and prior to time spent on manufacture is even more difficult and requires almost a sixth sense. Bagpipe making like life is difficult. Chanter - the pipe on a bagpipe on which the melody
is played. A description of the pipes made |
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